Want To Be an AppStore Star? AppCircle May Be For You!

Looking for your app to get noticed and become the next major player? Flurry's AppCircle may be the tool to do just that.

According to VentureBeat, analytics company Flurry, has released AppCircle, whose ultimate goal is to help iPhone and iPod Touch apps get noticed. But Flurry would also like a piece of the app pie. The thinking is that with Flurry doing their part to help get the app noticed, it will help to generate more sales on that platform anyway.

Developers can use Flurry's analytics for free, just by putting a piece of code in their iPhone/iPod Touch apps. Flurry then obtains lots of data about what users do, how much time is spent with an app, what other apps are used, and how much money users spend on apps. Flurry is also tracking Android-users in the same way.

If users go on to purchase a recommended app, then Flurry is able to know about it. The company is then able to take their cut of the purchase and the app developer keeps the rest.

The payment process works as follows. A user pays the retail price for an app on the app store. The developer gets 70 percent of the gross sale, while Apple gets the other 30 percent. Then the developer shares either 50 cents or 30 percent of the app gross (whichever amount is higher) with Flurry. Flurry halves that between itself and the host app. Finally, Apple gives 5 percent to Flurry through Linkshare. When all is said and done, Flurry only winds up with 20 percent of the gross in the end, and they do not receive anything unless a transaction occurs.

Many developers are already trying out the feature, including major players like Viacom and Namco.